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Mid 2010 Model A1278 / 2.4 or 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo processor

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Why is my 2010 MacBook Pro shutting off at startup

I have an mid 2010 MacBook Pro 13" that shuts off during, or immediately after, startup. Normal startup doesn't make it through the startup screen. Safe boot or Recovery gets me beyond the startup screen, but within seconds it shuts off. In either case, the screen gets dark (not totally black, just loses about half the light) about halfway through the startup screen.

I have reset the SMC and PRAM. Didn't work. A different hard drive didn't work. Placing the drive in an enclosure and connecting via USB didn't work. Swapping out the battery didn't work.

I can't keep it running long enough to run diagnostics.

Any thoughts? Am I looking at a faulty logic board?

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Do you have the original system installation disk?

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Unfortunately, no.

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I got the MacBook Pro up and running....somewhat. I had to hold down a key while running through the start up screen just so that I can make it to the login screen. Once I logged in I was able to run some normal functions. One thing that happens quite often is the "Are you sure you want to shut the computer down" message keeps popping up. Also, The screen goes dark and the keyboard backlighting turns off, as though the MacBook is going to sleep. I simply touch any key and it comes back on.

I had it running for about 15 or 20 minutes before the screen went dark and then it shut off.

Does this sound like an issue with the power button?

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Poor man's troubleshooting....LOL

I disconnected the keyboard ribbon, connected a USB keyboard and mouse, and used the power pads to fire up the MacBook.

I didn't have to hold any keys down to make it through the startup screen. I logged in without any problem. And so far, no Shut Down messages.

I'll run it today and if there's no issues then I'll assume it's a bad keyboard. Easy fix. Fingers crossed.

Thanks guys!

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Have had no issues since disconnecting the keyboard and using the external keyboard. Ordered a new keyboard.

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If it chimes at power on and gets partially through the startup and shuts down completely (meaning the machine is off), then you might have a directory issue on the hard drive. If so, try starting up from a bootable USB flash drive and running disc utilities "repair". If that doesn't work, DiskWarrior by Alsoft is a more robust program to fix directory issues and comes with a bootable USB flash drive.

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Thanks for the suggestions.

I assumed by swapping out hard drives that I would eliminate that being the issue? I swapped in a good drive from another MacBook with the same results.

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Tim C swapping out a hard drive is not going to help with anything its the Directory, you need to make sure that your computer knows that it is pointing to that hard drive to start up correctly.

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Thanks. The problem was solved with a new keyboard.

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Greetings everyone! I have exactly the same issue with a MBP A1286 Mid 2010. It keeps shutting off after start-up. I tried starting from Command S and running Disks Utilities and it shuts-down in the middle of the program. Swapped Ram and got the same results. Also tried running the Fsck -fy command and it shut-off at the beginning of the process. :( Now, I will start the machine without the HDD using a USB installing drive.

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Find ASD 3S138 and see if it will boot up into it. Bad BIOS, bad MCP, bad RAM, or bad HDD cable. Need more info to have a clue what is wrong.

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I will give this a try as soon as I can find a reliable place to download the ASD. Thanks.

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Hello guys! I disconnected the keyboard ribbon and connected a wireless keyboard and the MBP A1286 worked fine. Apparently, t was a defective palmrest/keyboard top case. Thanks everyone for your input. It really helped a lot to figure out possible causes of this problem.

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TimC will be eternally grateful.
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